The House moved forward with new rules on how lawmakers spend taxpayer dollars on auto mileage, air travel, office decoration and more.
Continue readingLawmakers, with Clipped Wings, Still Fly
The new rules Congress passed last year requiring the disclosure of expense-paid trips members and their staff receive have sharply... View Article
Continue readingCountdown to Reform Mandate
On Friday, August 1, 2008, the Clerk of the House must launch a public database on the Clerk’s web site... View Article
Continue readingWilkes Defense to Raise ‘Business as Usual’ in Washington
The prosecution has rested in the trial of Brent Wilkes, the contractor on trial for bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The last paragraph of this Washington Post story notes that Wilkes' defense will be that he was merely playing by the rules of the Congressional Favor Factory (now open 24 hours a day!):
[Wilkes' attorney Mark] Geragos said in his opening statement that he plans to show that Wilkes was only doing business as it is normally done in Washington, not trading favors for contracts. He is set to begin calling witnesses on Thursday.If that's the case, I will be just as eager to read about the defense's presentations as I was about the prosecution's, which included details of expensive meals and trips to distant vacations spots, including Hawaii. If Geragos is looking for examples to back up his claim, he might want to check the Center for Responsive Politics' travel database, available here, to see that members of Congress and their staff took more than 30 trips to Hawaii since July 2005 (when federal agents made headlines by raiding Cunningham's home), 137 trips to Las Vegas, 23 trips to Jamaica, and 48 trips to Aspen, to name a few. Continue reading
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